New Hope?
by chips1314
Summary: kel and joren had always hated each other but when they are forced to work with each other how will they get on?
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer- I do not own Tortall

Chapter One

Most people tend to believe that once an official peace has been signed and someone has 'won' then a war is over. This is a myth. The scars that a war leaves take years to heal and the army has to stay around to do it.

The two main problems that have to be faced are the bandits. All those mercenary soldiers with so much expertise at killing and looting but not much knowledge of how to live in peace suddenly find themselves without work and so some become outlaws.

The second problem is the refugees. Some don't want to go home, some do and find there land occupied by others – all of them poor and without any immediate way to support themselves.

Lady Keldary of Mindelan found that at the end of Tortall's war with Scanra she had to deal with both. New Hope was a village of refugees. As the only working town for miles they were the perfect target for raiders. Soon the village would have more warriors than the army's forts. At the same time Kel had to act as mayor and magistrate for the village.

She was more than a little frustrated by this second role. She hadn't been out in the field once since her little unofficial excursion into Scanra. It also meant she hadn't seen any of her friends since Neal's wedding. He had been one of the first men to leave active service after the peace had been signed. He had been on leave at the time anyway and so she hadn't seen him since then. Other than Merric she felt that she had not seen a familiar face in aeons.

This was one of the first mornings that she had been able to take a leisurely practice. She not only used her glaive for a pattern dance but went out to join in staff, sword and archery practice.

The children were glad to see her and she was glad to see them. With so many of the adults there was an invisible barrier which stopped them from becoming real friends. It was only to be expected, not only was she a noble, she was also the Protector of the Small- a hero.

Iriani the little seer girl came up to Kel. She had regained so much confidence since she had come to New Hope but today she looked miserable.

'Irani what's wrong?' Kel asked, the girl was twisting her hands. She looked frantic.

'He's coming.' it was whispered so faintly that Kel had to lean down to catch the words.

Who's coming?' Kel asked worried because Irani was.

'The scarred men'

Kel immediately feared that she knew who she meant. Joren had come out of the Chamber of Ordeal with a horrible scar running across his face but he couldn't be coming to New Hope, could he?


	2. chapter b

Disclaimer- I don't own Tortall. I never said I did.

Chapter Two

The chamber hadn't killed him but some days he wished it had. He was famous all over the kingdom. Everyone knew him for the huge scar that ran down his face. He had been blinded in one eye; he no longer possessed a mouth, and had been left with what you might describe as a sneer with hole at the side. The red scar had now gone to leave a white mark on his face. Joren who was once so handsome had lost all his good looks and his vanity in seconds.

Now it seemed that the Gods wanted to add insult to injury by sending him to serve under the Lump. Well the joke was on them. He no longer cared, it wasn't that he thought women should be allowed to fight it was just that he didn't care. If the country was going to be destroyed and one word from him would save it he wouldn't make as much as a squeak. This country had taken everything from him. He didn't even know why he was fighting for it except he couldn't have taken another day listening to his mother sobbing over her 'beautiful boy'.

So here he was riding out to a village of worthless refugees and the whore who led them. At least most of his time would be spent hunting bandits, one of his favourite hobbies.

Peachblossom pounded into Fort Giantkiller in a temper which matched that of his rider. Few people had ever seen Lady Keldary of Mindelan in a temper but the few who had did not wish to repeat the experience.

Kel did not believe that she had ever been angrier. As far as she was concerned he should have been shut away in the deepest darkest mines the country had to offer until he was dead. He should not be riding up to join her at New Hope. Owen was there to meet her. Apparently they knew she was coming.

'Kel my Lord will see you straight away' Owen said. His friend did not look as if she was in the mood for chat.

Kel nodded, she had been hoping that Lord Wyldon would refuse to see her so she could storm into his office. She would just have to settle to fuming melodramatically. She wanted to kill Wyldon for this.

When they reached the office Wyldon looked up. He looked shattered for a brief second Kel felt sorry for him before remembering she was angry with him, very angry. She started a flow of curses going through her head to remember it.

'Lady Keldary' Wyldon began but Kel wasn't going to let him away with that so easily. Oh no he was going to listen to what she had to say without sympathising to make her less angry at him

'How could you? How could you send him here? With innocent civilians all around him. Do you realise what he'll do? He hates me but he'll take it out on them just like he did with Lalasa. You remember Lalasa don't you? She was my maid. The one that she had kidnapped. Kel's voice had steadily risen until she was screaming at Wyldon. The place in the back of her mind that worked a little like Neal did was cheering her on. Go Kel. Who needs to storm into an office to create melodrama? Well whoever it is it's not you.

Wyldon passed a hand over his face. He hadn't wanted Joren here anymore than anymore than Keldary did. But they needed new warriors. Most had been relieved from active service and were reluctant to come back. He didn't really have much choice and New Hope really needed the warriors. They had regular bandit attacks and Keldary was barely coping. She didn't just need soldiers; she needed men who could think for themselves. She needed knights. Wyldon owed it to her to give her knights even if she didn't want them and whatever you said about Joren he was a knight so he would serve at New Hope whether the Lady Knight liked it or not.

If Wyldon had said any or all of this to Kel he would have had a much easier time of it but for some reason he decided not to and so they spent two hours arguing before Wyldon did say some of what he had just thought. Unfortunately it was not the best part,

'Sir Joren is coming to New Hope Lady Keldary whether you like it or not' (you see he could have chosen a better part)

Then Lady Keldary displayed a flair for the melodramatic which had been hitherto hidden. She turned on her heal and stormed right out of the room and then kept on storming until she came into the stable where she was briefly delayed by the need to saddle Peachblossom but then she got on the horse and positively thundered out of Fort Giantkiller. Owen grinned, this was going to be jolly.

So? Do you like it? Yes/No (circle as appropriate). Well then why aren't you reviewing?


	3. chapter c

Disclaimer- Tortall does not belong to me. It belongs to Tamora Pierce.

Chapter three

So he was coming and there was nothing she could do about it. Kel had resigned herself to it. She wasn't looking forward to it but she'd manage because she had to. She'd manage because she owed it to the people of New Hope. She couldn't be seen to treat this one man any differently from the others. She had accepted convict soldiers who might have done all sorts of terrible things. There was a small nasty part of her mind that said 'ah yes but none of those men are so filled with hate that they would an attack an innocent girl and feel no remorse just to get at you now would they?' but she ignored it.

Serene in her new found resignation she fielded questions from angry villagers who 'didn't want him coming here' and calmed Merric who was ready to go out with a boulder and batter Joren to death if he dared even talk to them. Her serenity carried her stomach.

She waited in the courtyard to greet him herself, ostensibly so that she could show that she held no animosity towards him, but really so that she could get it over and done with as quickly as possible. She didn't want to look at him. Every time she saw him she almost felt sorry for him but she didn't want to feel anything towards him.

So she looked up and there he was. He had lost the insolent air that hung around him as a boy. The scar on his face had disfigured him horribly. As Kel looked at him she had a reaction right from her gut. She hated this man more than words could express. She hated him even more than Blayce. Blayce had been evil but deranged, Joren had no such excuse. It was times like these she was glad she was 'the lump'. Her features tightened but it wasn't something you would notice unless you were paying close attention. But Joren was paying close attention.

Joren didn't like the Lady Knight but he wasn't obsessed with her anymore. Before he had believed that she was an insult to him and his country. Now she was only an embarrassment to herself and the idiots who encouraged her. That didn't mean he couldn't get a kick out of knowing that he had affected her so easily. He bowed to her and was amused to see that when he rose the look in her eyes said she would have liked to kill him right there and then.

'Lady Keldary' he said by way of a greeting.

'Sir Joren' Kel couldn't bring herself to tell him that he was welcome. As far as she was concerned he would never be welcome to her. The silence dragged on. Both were unwilling to speak first, it seemed like somehow that would be admitting a defeat. They might have stood there forever if Joren hadn't remembered that he didn't care about this.

'I am rather tired after the ride ma'am. I wonder if there might be somewhere I could sleep?' Kel looked as if she would have liked to tell him that he could sleep in the mud but she was to polite.

'Tobe will show you to your room. As a knight you have the right to ask for your meals in your room but I would prefer it if you would eat in the mess hall at least some of the time.' She wasn't sure if she meant that. What she really meant was that if he didn't eat in the mess hall at least some of the time it would be very hard to convince people that she didn't hate him and as she needed him to be a productive member of staff she couldn't have riffs displayed openly. 'You will be given your orders tomorrow morning. Nine o'clock in my office. Tobe will show you where.' He nodded and left following Tobe and that was it. She had seen him again.

She wondered if perhaps she could say that he was unqualified because he could only see out of one eye. No that wouldn't work; she would have to except that he was staying. She saw off everybody and then went to her office locking the door behind her. She let out a long breath. How was she going to do this?

She was Yamani calm, she was fair and people respected her for that. She was confident in her ability to do her own job and she didn't listen to other people who would say otherwise. She was happy; all her dreams had been fulfilled. She wasn't done yet: there were things that she still wanted to do and one day she hoped to have a family of her own but for now she was content to let her life carry on the way it was.

And then this one man came in and it was as if everything she had strived for was meaningless. He could not only shatter her inner peace he could also shatter the harmony in New Hope. It wasn't fair that someone who had done so much wrong was still free to wreck people's lives. How was she going to deal with him?

Joren had been in New Hope for a week now and he was driving Kel mad. He had not put a foot wrong. She wanted him to do something so she could get rid of him but so far he had carried all his duties out so that even she couldn't find fault with him. He had not been rude to the townspeople and he was respected by all the village elders. Partly because he ha obviously gone through something terrible and come out the other end and partly because he was willing to help anyone who asked him not that many asked. Most people were afraid of him and he did nothing to make them more comfortable in his presence.

Luckily she wouldn't have to deal with him often. He would come in weekly to the meeting of all the commanders at New Hope but other than that they could completely ignore each other.

The King was 'dropping in' next week. He was taking a tour of the border area and he wanted to see a refugee community. Raoul had claimed that the reason New Hope had been chosen was because it was the best defended but Kel knew the real reason was that this was a good refugee camp with enough water and food. Others were ridden with disease and crime. As many bandits came out of there as out of Scanra. The King had to be protected from these realities or at least from first hand experience of these realities. So soon she would have the King and Joren to deal with. 'Great' she thought 'my two favourite people'.

Joren was surprised to find that he actually enjoyed being at New Hope. There was good food and clean beds but most importantly there was plenty of work. Joren had always loved work. It took his mind away from any troubles. Before those troubles had been with his growing obsession with defeating the Lady Knight now his mind was taken away from the almost constant, pressing memory of getting his scar. It tormented his mind day and night. A large shapeless thing that he couldn't put to a name to. It had come and engulfed him completely. He had been drowning in that bitter darkness and felt as if he would never come out. He didn't know how he had escaped only that he had woken up hours later in a bed having come out of the chamber alive.

When he was working he forgot the feeling of drowning, when he was sleeping he was oblivious to everything but when he was awake he felt as if he was still there. As if the shadow had followed him out of the chamber and the only time he got himself out of it was when he worked so he worked hard. He did any favours asked of him going well beyond the call of duty in his desperation to make it all go away.

He hadn't made friends but then Joren had never valued others as anything except ways to get what he wanted. His feelings were ambivilant towards the rest of the human race. The only person who inspired any sort of feeling in him was his Knight Commander Lady Keldary and then he only felt amusement, after all who wouldn't think it funny to see such a paragon of virtue struggling to keep a homicidal rage in check. If he had ever felt any urge to make a nuisance of himself Keldary's sheer frustration that he hadn't already was enough to keep him on the straight and narrow. Not that he felt much these days just a sort of blankness as if all his previous character had been erased but that nothing had been put back in its place.

**Okay well that's it for another chapter. Sorry about the long dwellings on feelings I'll add some action next time.**

**thanks to all my reveiwers i love you (ina not wierd way)**


	4. chapter d

Disclaimer- Tortall does not belong to me.

Chapter D

There was a little girl staring at him. At first he would have bared his teeth and frightened her away but he had gotten used to it by now. He just ignored her but she continued to stare. Eventually he realised that she wasn't going to go away

'Can I help you with something?' he asked with all the politeness he could muster.

'You're Sir Joren of Stonemountian aren't you?' she asked in a manner which told him she already knew the answer.

'Yes and you are?'

'Irani'

'The seer?'

'Yes' she seemed to think that this was enough conversation for the moment because she didn't continue. Joren's patience was wearing thin as he asked;

'Well what can I help you with Irani?'

'The shadow.'

'Which shadow?' Joren asked with a horrible foreboding that he would know the answer.

'The one that followed you from the chamber.'

'I don't know what you're talking about.' He replied deciding to feign ignorance

'I know how you can get rid of it.'

'I still don't know what you're on about.' But he did and he hoped she would continue anyway.

'You will find it and fight it when it attacks someone you love. Then it will go.'

Joren felt a surge of disappointment rush through him. She couldn't help him after all.

'I don't love anyone kid and like I said before I don't know what you're on about.'

Irani turned and walked away from him.

'And Merric make sure that you send two extra patrols out each day towards the mines. We've had some intelligence from Lord Wyldon about a new group out that way.' Kel finished. 'Now Joren how are the security measures for the King coming on?'

'Fine ma'am. There was some problems with patrols outside the walls at night but we have decided to use magic to cast light round about every so often which should dissuade anyone from trying to get to close.'

Kel sighed and nodded. She had deliberately given Joren what she knew he would view as scut work to try and get him to challenge her but he had not only politely accepted the task. He had thrown himself into the work doing more than she would have expected of anybody except herself. He had also been very helpful and polite to the villagers. He was even beginning to get himself some friends or at least find people willing to befriend him. He didn't seem to want to establish relationships.

'All right everyone, that's good work this week. You can go now and we'll meet again next week. Sir Joren I'd like a word.' Kel waited until everyone had filed out before beginning, 'Sir Joren after the King's visit you will be assigned new duties. There are several small holdings growing up around New Hope. I am putting them all under you're care, against my better judgement I might add. You will make sure that each has adequate means to defend itself and some way of sending a message to New Hope in the event of an attack. I also want you to make sure that no group of raiders sets up camp anywhere near the small holdings.' Kel paused and looked up, his face betrayed no emotion. 'Sir Joren I know that you dislike me and feel no allegiance for the commoners but I am putting their lives in your hands. You are a knight I expect you to follow the code of chivalry.

'Yes ma'am'

Kel looked doubtfully at him, 'Perhaps I should find something else for you to do but there is no one else. I'm trusting you and that damn chamber. If it says you're good enough to be a knight then I hope you can be trusted to do this.'

If Kel hoped for a more substantial answer than 'Yes ma'am' she was not in luck. She barely stopped herself from launching across the desk to choke him. Didn't he realise what was at stake here? She hated his slimy guts and she hated the way he made her feel. She supposed this was the way most people went around. Feeling really strong emotions all the time but this never ever happened to her. And then because the curiosity was to much for her 'What was Irani talking to you about earlier?' If Kel had wanted emotion this seemed to produce it. His mouth twisted even farther and his eye darkened to the colour of a storm cloud.

'Nothing' he answered savagely. There didn't seem to be much more to say so Kel dismissed him and was left to wonder what on earth was going on.

Stupid bitch! Joren thought as he left the lumps office. 'I am putting their lives in your hands' and then she had the bare faced cheek to ask him to follow the code of chivalry! Was there ever a time when he hadn't done his job to everyones satisfaction? Whatever his personal feelings they were always put aside for work and how dare she assume he didn't like commoners. Just because he didn't become bosom buddies like she did she assumed that he had something against them? Well maybe he hadn't done anything to dissprove that notion before but how dare she assume that she knew him now?

It had been satisfying to see her try to keep control of her temper with him. He knew nobody got under her skin the way he did and he loved the sense of power it gave him.

It was funny that the lump had taken the whole thing so personally. Joren had never thought of the as a person. It sounded strange to say but he had never had anything personal against the lump. It was the idea of women fighting that was wrong. It degraded them and everyone they came into contact with. Women just weren't wired the same way as men they weren't set up for fighting. (a/n he believes it- I don't)

**Short chapter this time folks- next time it's _everybodies_ favourite character. That's right ladies and gentlemen its King Jonathon. (I've always liked him but others seem to not like him)**


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